Thursday – October 8, 2020

I love being greeted by the cats in the morning, on my way to the barn.  Tom Morris made a funny face for the camera this morning.  Marmalade sees me coming, and he scarpers – Marm alarm! Those two orange boys are getting hard to tell apart from a distance – Marmalade is getting a darker coat for winter.

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Turning the horses out involves first dressing Oisin in his fly sheet and mask when the weather is warm, which it is this week.  And then, wrapping Stone’s bare right front foot, to protect it until Fred can shoe him.  Again, Stone was a perfect gentleman, even though the other horses were already out.  The morning light was lovely today.

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Rebecca came to help in the garden.  Before we got to work, we were topping up the water trough and, to my delight, I saw the sun glinting off the lost shoe, right in front of us in the paddock!  Very good luck.  Usually, I find the lost shoe just after Fred has been here and has fashioned a new shoe.  This way, Fred could just tack the shoe back on.

We trimmed the blue atlas cedar branches, which were hanging over the back sidewalk.  And that is how we discovered the source of all the yellow pollen we have been dusted in recently.  The little pine cones are FULL of pollen.  

Next on the agenda was cutting down the ornamental grasses, which are out of control.  I had to go and catch Stone up for Fred, so Rebecca did most of the work, as usual.  And then she did the push mowing, too!

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Fred was in fine form – he put Stone’s shoe back on, and made me laugh a lot.  I failed to get a good picture of him, but he was looking quite spiffy today.  I am grateful for the fine shoeing, but even more for the laughter.  Luckily, he will be back next week for our scheduled shoeing, and Jane moved Derry’s appointment, so we are all on the same schedule again.

The zinnias survived the frost and are still cheerful in the garden. Meanwhile, the woods are headed for peak color soon, I think. With the warm weather, the butterflies are still around.

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When I was dumping plant material from the Mule, I finally remembered to get a picture of the destroyed ground bee (yellow jacket) nest out near the ring. Something dug up the nest – probably a possum or a raccoon. Here is the excavated hole, and a piece of the nest, robbed of honey. The bees are gone.

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Harry took the dogs out for their afternoon airing, and Mistletoe was feeling very feisty, since I trimmed her hair so she can see again.

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We had a bit of quiet meditation time on the porch to prepare for this evening.

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And then, we had a long awaited social engagement with our good friends, Bill and Pam!  Bill brought dinner from Acero, our favorite restaurant, and we ate on their back porch, 15 feet apart.  The porch was beautiful, with lovely table settings, bottles of drinks in ice buckets, and strict precautions.  It was quite delightful, and really good to be with friends on a perfect autumn evening, overlooking their beautiful back yard, bordered by a spring fed stream. 

As a surprise, there were exquisite chocolate pastries (Guyana) with a touch of real gold leaf from Nathaniel Reid Bakery.  Perhaps the most delicious dessert ever!

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Stay safe, stay well, cherish friends.